First opera about the Iraq War comes to the USF School of Music in Tampa

Award-working Iraqi-American playright Heather Raffo joins us to talk about her latest work, Fallujah, the first opera about the Iraq War that will be performed at the USF School of Music in Tampa on Friday at 7:30 pm. She previously written and starred in an successful off broadway play, 9 parts of Desire, about the lives of 9 Iraqi women set between the two gulf wars.

Falljah is based on the true story of Christian Ellis, an American machine gunner whose platoon was ambushed in an attack that left him with a broken back. Like many combat veterans, he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder upon returning to civilian life in the US.